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Dana Marino and Crystal Starrick used Saturday's auction at the former Bishop Hafey Junior/Senior High School as an opportunity to reminisce.

"This is my home," said Marino, as an auctioneer a hallway away took offers on a box of high school science class equipment.

The 2005 Hafey graduates - and best friends since meeting in seventh grade at the school - perused some of the thousands of items offered for sale. Their intention was not to bid, Starrick said.

"We came back to find our old lockers and visit our old classrooms," she explained. "There are a lot of memories in each of the rooms."

The building most recently housed Holy Family Academy and was purchased by the Hazleton Area School District last year. The district hired J&J Auction Service of Sheppton to sell its contents to make way for renovations.

The crowd was shoulder-to-shoulder before the auction's 9 a.m. start. It included antiques dealers, curiosity seekers and business owners like Sam Mujevic, who drove from Allentown to check out cafeteria equipment.

"I wanted to look at it for my pizza shop," he said. He fiddled with a steel mixer and opened an oven door before deciding the equipment was too large for his Schnecksville eatery.

Sheldon Owens was mulling whether to bid on any musical equipment. Stringed, brass and percussion instruments were displayed on tables inside the school's multipurpose auditorium.

Owens, who said he typically doesn't "do the auction circuit," said he likely would sell any of his purchases.

Another business owner, Mike Zarrett of Bloomsburg, wandered around the school's library hoping something would strike his fancy. He had gone through several classrooms, all of which were open to the public.

"I found a couple of little things but I don't think I'm going to stay," he said. "If I really see something I like then I will wait in line to register to bid."

The line Zarrett referred to snaked out the building's front door for most of the mid-morning.

Auctioneer Joe Kurczewski said he was expecting high attendance. He listed the auction online where it was viewed between 40,000 and 50,000 times. "Normally, on our other auctions, we'll see between 25,000 and 30,000 views," he said.

Items on the auction block included classroom and office furniture, art equipment, books, office supplies, microscopes, tables, lockers, toilets, landscaping equipment and blackboards. A blackboard in Room 112 contained the message, "Please turn in your assignment," written in white chalk, and a library checkout desk was piled with books, including one about Raggedy Ann and Andy.

A 22-passenger bus parked at the district's transportation building was also up for sale.

What attendees didn't see on the auction list, Kurczewski said, were religious items. Prior to the auction, he walked into the chapel to point out a bare wooden altar and faded spots where religious plaques once hung.

"There is nothing religious here," he said, noting that the Scranton Diocese removed all religious items from the school after it closed.

The chapel's education-themed stained glass windows were on the auction block, which upset a Standard-Speaker reader.

Pat Leitner posted on the newspaper's Facebook page, "I am shocked to learn from your coverage that neither the diocese, nor the school district, intends to preserve the five education-themed stained glass windows from the chapel. These are beautiful and unique historical artifacts that are deserving of preservation. As a student from 1974-78, I did not spend a great deal of time in the chapel, but it never was just another room in just another school."

William Genello, diocesan spokesman, addressed Leitner's concerns.

"The diocese assessed all items that could potentially be used in another diocesan facility. Items that remained were left to the appropriate discretion of the buyer," he wrote in an email.

Denise Maue of Sugarloaf was happy she and her future daughter-in-law, Jael Sherman of Conyngham, arrived just before 8 a.m. Maue immediately found a parking spot and had ample time to look over the items, she said.

Neither woman, however, was primed to bid.

"I just came out of curiosity," explained Maue, a Hafey alumna, who watched as Kurczewski went from item to item.

Microscopes were quick to go at $15 a pop, and a scale fetched $13. But some items, like a box full of soap dispensers, didn't sell.

Proceeds from the day-long auction will go into the school district's general fund. The district plans to transform the building into a new elementary/middle school.

Marino and Starrick, who are both teachers at the district's Arthur Street Elementary School, want to visit again.

"We're hoping that when they open it, we can come back - even though it will still be Bishop Hafey to us," Starrick said.

jwhalen@standardspeaker.com

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